Monday, January 02, 2017

The brutal lathi-charge on Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) students has angered Muslim youth in Uttar Pradesh.

The students had organised a protest over disappearance of Najeeb Ahmed, the JNU student who has been missing for months and is yet to be traced. However, the police thrashed the protesters.

It has led to strong reaction among Muslim youth in the poll-bound state. For the last two days, photographs of injured students has been going viral on internet and are being shared by WhatsApp.

This has further irked the Muslims. Youths feel that such brutal cane-charge on students during the Samajwadi Party (SP) regime shows its attitude towards the Muslims--the community is taken for granted.

While Akhilesh Yadav is busy taking reins of the party from his father, there is a strong undercurrent among Muslim youths over the issue. Will it have an impact on poll prospects of the party when elections are drawing nearer!

This cant' be ruled out. The general question is that why students were treated so brutally. And, why district administration acted with such vengeance. Further, no action was taken against the officials.Instead, youths were later booked for the protest.The feeling that under SP government, Muslims can't even raise voice, is getting stronger. Also, the Muzffarnagar riots haven't been forgotten.

People remember how Akhilesh Yadav government had failed to act when nearly scores were killed and tens of thousands got displaced. The feeling that SP considers Muslims as 'loyal votebank' who have no option, has gained ground.

But, the reality is that Muslims are in no mood to be treated as vote banks. The result of the fight over 'cycle'--the SP symbol, would be known in a few days. After that, Muslims would take a decision. In many constituencies, the decision would be taken on the basis of local candidates' strength.

The entry of AIMIM has also changed the scenario. MIM's leaders and its party workers' constant criticism of SP government, has dented the image of Akhilesh Yadav. MIM may not get a chunk of votes but its arrival has changed the manner in which Muslim electoate looked at SP.

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